A Week in the Life

A Week in the life of a Capstone Associate

While experiences across KKR Capstone Associates vary, there are common themes:

You will work very closely with the Portfolio Company’s management team –which essentially becomes an extension of the KKR Capstone team – to understand and execute on the company’s highest-priority opportunities

You will experience close mentorship and engagement with your KKR Capstone teammates, which will consist of another Principal and/or Director

You will interact across KKR through deal team engagement, due diligence work, and other cross-firm initiatives.

You will focus on one Portfolio Company at a time, on projects typically of 6-12 months in length

Jay Shah

Associate at KKR Capstone

Below is an example of a “typical week” for one of our Associates, Jay Shah.

Project Description

I’m currently working with the management team of a KKR Portfolio Company to further accelerate growth of a small, but fast-growing software product. Prior to our investment in the company, the product had been growing 15-20% annually with minimum attention and investment. During our due diligence, we identified this product as a lesser-known, but highly competitive offering which had a right to win vs several larger incumbents in the space. Our thesis is that, with the right investments, this product could be many multiples of the size it is today and evolve to be a true industry leader.

Over the last several months, I have essentially been playing an interim VP of Sales role to develop the growth strategy and corresponding “sales playbook” for this product.

A key area of focus has been building partnerships with IT service providers and developing strategies to co-sell our offerings together. Many companies outsource their IT functions to these providers and they could be an effective channel to recruit new customers.

As a result, I’ve been focused on developing partnerships with a few strategic IT partners where our product is a natural fit within their existing portfolio of solutions. Post-agreement, my role is to determine which specific activities (e.g., customer introductions, marketing events, product training) our sales teams should complete together in order to ultimately drive growth.

9am

Review Prior Week Performance

I like to start each week by taking stock of the prior week’s sales numbers, including updates on key customer opportunities and new partner discussions. This helps me prioritize where to focus for the week and the relevant leaders to potentially follow up with at the company.

12pm

Menlo Park Lunch

A tradition of the Menlo Park office is to try and prioritize lunch together across teams. Since I’m traveling a few days this week, I’m keen to catch up with some friends on the Consumer and Tech investing teams. A colleague from our London office is visiting and she joins as well.

3pm

Interview Director of Sales Candidate

An executive at another portfolio company referred us to a potential Director of Sales candidate. I meet with her to understand her background and experience co-selling products with partners. The conversation went well and, afterwards, I send a note to our CRO and suggest they meet for a more in-depth discussion.

10am

Internal Working Session

I grab an hour with a Director on the Capstone team I’ve been working with to problem solve a negotiation strategy with a partner I am working to recruit. The partner has made an unusual ask to invest in headcount before agreeing to sign with us, and I’d like to get some feedback on what we should ask for in return before committing to the ask.

1pm

Travel to Partner Conference

I fly to Chicago, where our portfolio company’s ten largest partners are meeting to build 2024 growth plans. Given our new growth strategy, the company has also invited two high potential partners with whom we’ve been in active discussions with for several weeks. On my way to Chicago, I review the key profiles of each partner visiting and their last 12 months of performance metrics.

10am

Partner Conference Breakout Sessions

I join our VP of Product and Director of Sales in breakout sessions with the leaders of each of the partners who attend the conference in Chicago. I’m particularly focused on soliciting feedback on our product and how that might change which segments of the market we prioritize for growth. I also am curious to understand their outlook for 2024 and how it compares to our own growth aspirations.

4pm

1:1 with Prospective Partner

The Director of Sales and I connect informally with a prospective partner we’ve invited to the conference. Being in person is a chance to understand what matters most to them in a partnership. It’s also an opportunity for me to gauge their own willingness to invest in us and our vision. The session was encouraging, as the partner revealed how his own leadership team had tasked him to grow into adjacent verticals in the upcoming year. We spent the bulk of the time workshopping how to bundle our offerings and pursue specific customer profiles to together. It was an exciting conversation and, if successful, the initiatives we discussed would imply a step change in growth for us next year.

7pm

Group Dinner

All conference attendees get together for networking and dinner

9am

1:1 with Account Executive

I met with the Account Executive who is responsible for the Americas West territory. He manages the largest Americas region on the sales team and we connect periodically to understand how well integrated our sales team is with those from newly recruited partners.

1pm

Americas Sales Training

I have been leading a series of trainings with the sales team on how to recruit new partners and structure agreements with each based on my own learnings. In this session, I’ve designed a few role plays to simulate a typical negotiation with a prospective partner. These sessions are important and ensure the full team feels comfortable and equipped to execute the new growth strategy we’ve developed.

5pm

Flight Back to San Francisco

I review my notes from the last two days and send a note to our CEO asking if she could meet with the prospective partner from the conference to help formalize the relationship. I recap the key initiatives we discussed and explain how, if successful, they could be an inflection point in the product’s growth trajectory. Given the size of opportunity, I’m keen to build on the momentum we developed at the conference and finalize the partnership soon.

9am

2024 Budget Working Session

The Director on my team and I join the CFO and Head of FP&A for a working session on the upcoming budget. With the company’s fiscal year ending in six weeks, we discuss growth expectations for next year in light of the new partner strategy. We also brainstorm the key sales and marketing investments we should expect to make in 2024 to ensure the strategy is successful.

12pm

Internal Lunch and Learn

Every 4-6 weeks a KKR business unit leader meets with our team to provide an overview of their work at the firm. These panels are generally very interactive, informative and a great opportunity to step back from the day-to-day to learn more about KKR and our industry more broadly.

2pm

Demo of Sales Prospecting Tool

A potential software vendor visits our office to demo a new automation tool that helps Account Executives prospect customers more efficiently and systematically. The demo is impressive and I know the team I’ve been working with would find it useful. After the demo, I send a note to a few of the sales leaders across our software portfolio and offer to make an introduction.